Brave New World?
by bhut
Summary: Pre-Civil War movie. One day, Bucky Barnes woke-up, and the world was different, (but still familiar). Now what?
1. Chapter 1

**No Hydra**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to their owners._

 _Bucky_

Bucky Barnes was…confused. Normally, this was not surprising – having been brainwashed by…Hydra, (he presumed that it was Hydra, even though he had no clear memories about it, and barely any at all, actually), he had no precise memories about a great big chunk of life, from WWII to the present, several decades worth. Naturally, some things needed adjustment to fit into his life, let alone his mental landscape, but…

But somethings just did not add up, for one thing he could not remember his mental commands anymore; whatever Hydra had done to him, was gone.

…Of course, since he was the Winter Soldier, Bucky, sadly, couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't reappear and flare up in his mental landscape once again, when he least needs it. Or Steve, for that matter, since Captain America was his only friend…

Here Bucky looked away for internal reasons, and not just because he was tired at staring at a roadside billboard that depicted his photo…as one of America's most wanted, for terrorism. Whatever strange things were going on in the world, Bucky's social status, sadly, remained unchanged; and yet-

And yet whenever Bucky would come across his portrait, alongside the 'wanted for terrorism' caption, he would feel odd. Yes, he always felt odd whenever he came across this sort of thing, in part because he did do it, (even if he was brainwashed out of his gourd at the moment), and in part because he didn't – not exactly. Not even Howard and Martha Stark-

Bucky frowned once again. His memory _was_ faulty, not even Steve could deny that, but when it came to the people he killed, Bucky did remember them, all too well; and now-

And now he didn't; actually, that was one of the reasons as to why he was confused: Bucky _didn't_ remember some of the people that he had killed on one hand, and on the other, he remembered killing people that he _didn't_ kill before, and that was wrong on so many levels, and so indicative of what was wrong with his life and him-

"Bucky?" Steve chose this moment to make an appearance, looking flustered, (by his standards), but still largely in control of himself. "How are you handling-?"

"Don't ask," Bucky winced. "We have worse problems to think about." He paused and added, looking at Steve. "Although, just for the record, you don't feel anything weird yourself, do you?"

There was a pause as Steve looked at Bucky…almost in the eye. "Yes," he confessed quietly, "and I don't like it. When things get weird, usually aliens are involved, and that is particularly bad." He looked away, outside, at the billboard.

"No, _this_ isn't any worse than the first time around," Bucky shook his head. "Whatever's going on, enough things are left the same to keep us grounded-"

"…Bucky?"

"Yes, Steve?"

"We're going to bust some friends of ours from the Raft."

"…Steve?"

"Yes, Bucky?"

"We're not talking about some average-type flat-surface structure with support or transportation over, are we?"

There was a pause as Steve broke into coughing laughter. "No, Bucky, we're not. We are talking about an underwater prison run by our 'friend' Thunderbolt Ross-"

"Let's go and get him!" Bucky snapped without thinking: from what he remembered about that an, general and secretary, he hated him. Like, a lot.

There was a pause as Steve stared at his friend, and finally smiled – a great big happy grin. "Now I _know_ that you're back," Captain America told the Winter Soldier. "Let's go-"

There was a pause as the dynamic duo, (well, a different dynamic duo from the one over in the DC-verse), took a deep breath and became aware of their surroundings – well, more aware.

"Crud, they found us," Steve muttered, as he and Bucky heard several pairs of paramilitary boots running up the stairs. "And it's – SWAT?"

"Should be easy," Bucky said brightly, but it was not – not exactly. Their adversaries led the charge by sending a taser shockwave into the hideout, followed by some very real gunfire from shotguns and PSD rifles; unlike the tasers, these weapons were meant to wound and kill than to immobilize.

Steve's trusty shield took all of their bullets without any yielding – they just bounced off like billiard balls. The cover that the officers took did not help them either – Steve just smashed into them, (maybe with less panache that the Hulk would, but still), and promptly began to take them down, period.

This, of course, did leave his back open and vulnerable to the sniper, who had secured his position right behind the billboard that had Bucky's face on it, but this was what Bucky was for: he took down the sniper instead, (with a PSD rifle too – the Winter Soldier hadn't lost any of his mojo either, it seemed, regardless of what has changed in the world), before joining Steve in his fight…only he didn't need to: Steve defeated his opponents already, (though there were just three of them, not counting the sniper).

"Hardly a challenge," he commented to Bucky, before noticing the weapon in the Winter Soldier's hands…and the downed sniper outside. "Is he dead?"

"I…actually aimed to incapacitate rather than kill," Bucky looked away. "Steve, after the Raft, we really need to find those aliens of yours-"

A couple of grenades came flying through the bullet-riddled and holey walls. Steve and Bucky stopped talking, sent the grenades flying back from wherever they came and jumped through the window.

More gunfire greeted them, trying to pin them down: either the previously downed sniper has recovered or there was a second one now. However, before Captain America and the Winter Soldier could waste precious time trying to figure that out, a reinforced car burst onto the scene with all the finesse of a bulldozer, (there was even a modified plow in front of it).

"Get in," the driver yelled, as the car's doors opened. "Laura sent me!"

Bucky looked at Steve: he had no idea just who that woman was…or her friend Laura, for that matter. Steve, on the other hand did, as he jumped into the car…so Bucky naturally followed.

Together, the three of them roared away from the ambush site….towards the local harbor. That…probably made sense, seeing how this Raft that Steve talked about was an underwater prison and all, but Bucky somehow doubted that they will be able to reach it directly via a car ride, unless it could convert into a boat…

Well, maybe it could: the innards of the car were very different from the insides of any modern car that Bucky had been in, whether pre-WWII, during it, or now. "Strap in!" the woman continued to shout at them. "It is going to be bumpy-!"

Bucky blinked, and instinctively strapped in: he may not have been as courteous as Steve was, but there was something in her voice that commanded…something.

…Or maybe it was just the bulk of a quinjet that appeared before them, meaning business with that turret gun.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Bucky heard Steve mutter next to himself. "This can't be right-"

"Oh, it is," their driver muttered, as she accelerated their ride. "Please blink first, please blink first-"

The quinjet opened fire; surprisingly, its' bullets were unable to pierce the car's armor – not immediately, and then the driver pressed a button, and a pair of missiles burst from beneath the machine, hitting the quinjet right into the pilot's cabin and exploding there with a thick, sooty smoke.

The quinjet shuddered and veered off, stopping the gunfire in the process.

The rest of the journey to the harbor – apparently, no one else wanted to risk it, if there were more missiles from where those ones have come from – was uneventful.

/ / /

 _Harbor_

…Sadly, as soon as they have stopped in the harbor, (in a more remote part of it, having successfully lost their pursuers), Steve's temper erupted.

"There was no need for that!" he shouted at their new ally. "Bucky and I could've handled the quinjet, no problem! S.H.I.E.L.D. might be a collection of some very bizarre people, but-"

Bucky kept silent. Yes, both now and before the weirdness started, he _did_ know how to bring down a quinjet and _did_ bring them down, but honestly? This way worked too.

" _You're_ telling _me_?" the driver's reply sounded toxic. "I _was_ in S.H.I.E.L.D. – agent 33 or agent Palamas, at your service. Laura's agent 34," she added more peacefully to Bucky, "so this is how I know her."

"And because they were friends, we're helping you bust out Barton and the rest of your posse," added a tall, powerfully built man in a cap and sunglasses, (and a beard. Not that Bucky cared about beards – he was more of a moustache-man, but still). "Laura?"

"Yes, this is captain Rogers," yet another woman emerged from behind the man and gave Steve a less friendly look than he was used to. "Shall we get started?"

There was a pause and then the first woman – agent 33 – began to shout at Laura in a non-English language, (Spanish, Bucky guessed – he actually was not at his best with languages). "Um?" he turned to the newcomer – and frowned. "Do I know you?"

"I think the better question is – do you _remember_ me?" the man took off his sunglasses. "Because while ordinarily I would be the first to mess with this sort of topic, now I have to admit that neither Kara nor I are sure about a lot of people anymore; Laura has actually contacted us first." He shot a rather baleful look at Steve. "Never liked Barton and his Legolas shtick, but they _do_ have children of their own, you know?"

"Are you with S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Bucky asked his own question – the mention of children stirred something in his stomach, something that he would rather let lie.

"We were, once," their interlocutor agreed. "Now – most certainly not."

"Hydra?" Steve joined in, eager himself to skip over the issue of Barton's children.

"No," the other man shook his head, shaggy under the cap "and not just because it seems not to have existed at all now. Captain Rogers, are you-"

"No," it was Steve's turn to shake his head. "We didn't. I do not know who did, but-"

"We got to get moving!" the women were back, having apparently made their peace with each other. "Everything's all right?"

Three rather pointed glares were their answers.

"Awesome!" The second woman – Laura – shook her hands as she entered the hanger, disguised as a warehouse, first, revealing… a helicopter. Nothing particularly futuristic or high-tech either, but solid and reliable all the same. "Let's go."

"And does it have any missiles too?" Steve asked sourly as he expected it, (before settling in). "With-"

"This time, it was just smoke, smoke screen" agent 33's partner answered. "Yes, normally we would go with highly pressurized acidic gas, but because _you're_ involved, it's unnecessary."

"Me," Steve blinked.

"You. You are Captain America. With you around, we don't need acidic gas." There was a pause. "Plus Thunderbolt Ross who is running the Raft is still himself, but even he isn't that stupid or that arrogant. The helicopter is unarmed. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Bucky snorted: the look on Steve's face was…something. "You never gave us your name."

"…It's Ward. Grant Douglas Ward. You really don't remember me?"

…Bucky, who really did not trust his memory now, did not answer, and the helicopter, carrying its' five passengers, took off into the skies.

/ / /

 _The Raft_

The helicopter calmly cut through the air, seemingly caught between the overcast sky, (though there were some lighter patches in the clouds to the east), and the equally dark sea below.

"Yes, it's the Atlantic ocean," the other woman – Laura – replied from Bucky's right side, Steve was in the front, with Ward, as the latter piloted the helicopter. "You okay?"

"Laura, he has to deal with all of this crap on top of his own mental crap," the first woman – Kara – replied instead. "Got a double-dose, he did."

"And what would you know?" Bucky asked crossly.

"Been there myself, the first time around, the Faustus method," Kara looked out the helicopter window and looked through it for a while. Sadly, Bucky was not in the right position to also look at whatever she was looking at and he did not want to shift: the seats were comfortable.

"Well, Kara herself was subjected to it," her companion explained instead. "According to her, it's like having your personality ripped out by the roots. Myself, _my_ S.O. was neither Hydra nor S.H.I.E.L.D., more of a generic fraud, so he conditioned me in an old-fashioned way, and almost made me into a fraud as well, and it is not anything good either. So yes, both Kara and I can relate."

"…S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are different, I was told, eventually," Steve muttered, sounding kind of unsure, for him, anyhow.

"Yes. But as Romanoff says, horseradish isn't any tastier than the bitter radish."

"…She isn't with you?" Steve muttered.

"No. We were hoping that Buchanan back there and you would be able to persuade her to join us-"

"We never saw her – not recently, not today," Steve shook his head. "Got set by a semi-competent SWAT team-"

"Yes, well, you got caught at a bad time – a group of children has ran away, so the local law enforcement, and the Feds, and S.H.I.E.L.D., and anyone else whom we missed is looking for them, extra hard, with extra effort and extra competency. How are you holding back there?"

"Fine-"

"I was asking Kara right now, actually-"

"Ward," Kara's head snapped back to front, "thanks!" (Even from the back Bucky could see how their pilot preened at Kara's toothy smile.) "Now how about one of your chosen quotes? We're here."

"I can see that. How 'bout – _Plutos, the great enemy, has barred our path_?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Buchanan, look down."

And Bucky looked. From the depths of dark, cold water, (even in early autumn, North Atlantic Ocean could be notably chilly), the Raft emerged. It was not even shaped like a raft – more like a lifesaver, a circular octagon. There was nothing wooden or cork about it – only metal and concrete, glowing portcullises of windows and a landing pad in the center, where the quintet's helicopter was landing.

The flanks of the Raft were barren – no symbols, no logos, no nothing. There were some lights blinking down its sides in rows, but that was it.

"This isn't S.H.I.E.L.D.," Rogers frowned.

"No. There are some bastardized elements of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Fridge in the building's structure, but otherwise, this is it," Ward agreed. "This is ran by the UN. Captain, you understand that after this goes through, we are going to be going against-"

"Yes, I know," Rogers nodded. "I don't know if it's worth it-"

"That goes for all of us-"

Before Rogers could reply, the landing pad opened wide and the helicopter landed…on another pad, this one located _inside_ the Raft instead.

"How very Death Star," Laura muttered from her position as she shifted around and pulled…something together, something that Bucky couldn't quite see – he was busy being distracted by a lot of soldiers, armed certainly _not_ with tasers (or stun grenades or similar weapons), but with more of assault rifles, and sniper rifles, and even some shotguns.

"Come out with your hands-up!" someone shouted via a megaphone.

"Such fine negotiating skills," Kara muttered as the helicopter's doors began to open. "Laura, it's now. You ready? Go!"

Instead of verbally replying, the other woman lifted… a crossbow of some sorts and began to fire bolts into the crowd before they could start to shoot. As the bolts landed – it was a futuristic crossbow of some sorts, where bolts were fed into the 'bow' part via some sort of an automatic magazine – they exploded into more smoke and gasses, destroying the visibility of the enemies and bringing them down, coughing and fainting.

Alarms began to echo through the Raft; "Everybody down!" Grant exclaimed, and everyone instinctively complied. A pair of extra-bright and extra-powerful flashes came from the helicopter's lights – one at the rotor, the other – at the tail end.

The alarms immediately died; actually, all of the Raft's mechanics, animatronics, electronics and etc. immediately froze and stopped working.

"Variant EMPs," Ward commented, as the quintet got back onto their feet. "Now-"

Someone, or something, emerged from the smoke.

"Is that the Hulk?" Laura half-whispered half-gasped as the giant humanoid emerged from the smoke, (raised by her bolts, but still).

"No," Steve sounded pissed-off even to those who did not know him. "Mrs. Barton, take your friends, and go and rescue Clint and the others. I'll deal with Thunderbolt Ross here."

There was a pause as the others looked at Bucky. "Go," the Winter Soldier said quietly. "I'll prevent Steve from hurting the giant red-skinned ijit too badly."

The other three people nodded and raced-off into smoke. "So, this is what you meant back when you talked about surgery or whatever," Captain America told quietly their oversized opponent. "Just how insane are you-?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the new – Red – Hulk snapped as he pulled out his Hulk-sized firearm.

Bucky fired first. Normally, at this angle it would be enough to disarm their opponent, but since the Red Hulk had, well, Hulk-sized strength and a Hulk-sized weapon, it just stopped the Hulk for a moment…so Bucky continued to fire, until Steve covered the distance completely and went into the melee, knocking the Thunderbolt Ross's new firearm with his shield, and then Steve literally tore into him, expressing all of his recent frustrations on their Hulk-sized opponent with all the fire and fury of a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.

Moreover, this worked…until the two combatants backed themselves into a corner, where there was less space to maneuver. Now, the Red Hulk had enough of the upper hand to grab Captain America and began to squeeze him, regardless of the kicks and blows the smaller man was inflicting upon him.

For his part, Bucky had had enough – some of Ross's soldiers were beginning to show signs of recovery, and the Winter Soldier felt that it was time to start wrapping things up, and to make their great escape. (Or not so great, but still an escape). He fired, but his rifle's magazine was empty; he looked around for a new weapon – and saw his and Steve's new friends, already returning with several other people behind them…

Bucky frowned: the current atmosphere was still smoky and hazy, so even for him it was hard to distinguish just who was who here, but there was something about the new people – the new-new people, he supposed, that-

Crash!

Someone collapsed the roof of the Raft, scattering pieces of metal, concrete, stone, and other construction materials that Bucky didn't know the names of, (even before he joined the U.S. army during the WWII he was never big on building construction – this was why he had joined the army in the first place, among other reasons), revealing himself.

"Friend Steve!" the newcomer joyously cried, ignoring the new devastation that he had wrought, as well as the rainstorm that had come with him. "Are you okay? And ready to leave?"

"Thor!" Steve yelled back, as he broke out of the Red Hulk's grasp and leapt back to Bucky. "Yes! So are our friends-"

The Red Hulk roared a new challenge, despite being already battered. The man called Thor looked at him, frowned in a manner not unlike Steve's – apparently, the original Hulk was a good friend, so this imitation was especially annoying – and a thunderbolt came crashing through the entrance, zapping the giant.

The Red Hulk staggered, but a second lightning bolt knocked him out cold at last. "Thank you," Steve told Thor. "Now-"

A massive wind swept them all up and out of the Raft. This…wasn't the experience Bucky had ever had, (and he had plenty of experiences, even if sometimes he had trouble remembering them or keeping them in a chronological mental order), and it wasn't one that he would like to repeat voluntarily.

…As they all flew upwards, Bucky was also certain that he heard someone mutter: "Not this showing-off asshole…"

/ / /

 _Xibalba_

…The ride back should have been memorable – it is not regular, even in a life of a cyborgnetic assassin, (or ex-assassin? Bucky was not entirely sure on that point), that you get to fly through the air due to the power of a god.

…Or an alien with quasi-godly powers, whatever. Still not a regular occurrence in Bucky's life, no matter how crazy it gotten. Judging by the facial expression on Steve's face, the same went for him – and for everyone else involved. Except for Thor himself: the god, or alien, or whoever had enjoyed it immensely – and then he saw the name of the not-quite-a-hideout that he had landed it and grew noticeably more serious.

"Why is it called this?" he asked no one in particular, but it was Grant, who had answered:

"Well, we couldn't have called it 'Asgard', now could we?"

"True," the alien Norseman said thoughtfully, "but why 'Xibalba', precisely?"

"Because," Grant exchanged a look with Kara, walked over to Thor, and began to explain something quietly – very quietly, so that Bucky could not really hear him: not that he was eavesdropping, more like being professionally paranoid-

"Sharon!" Laura Barton shouted _very loudly_ , startling everyone. "Where are you and the children?!"

"Mama! Papa!" A group of children, (followed by a rather disgruntled Sharon Carter, aka S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agent 13), appeared on the scene. One of the girls made a beeline for Kara (and Grant), the rest of children – towards the Bartons.

"And hello to you too!" Apparently, Thor had been satisfied by the explanation – Bucky failed to hear it because of the new commotion – and was now talking to the daughter of agent 33. "My name is Thor!"

"I'm Suzy Therese!" the girl replied brightly. "Are you friends with Captain America and Mr. Hawkeye?"

"Sure am!" Thor did not blink an eye. "There they are, right there!"

"I know!"

"This is very fascinating," Sharon Carter spoke-up suddenly, interrupting everyone else, "but you people look exhausted. Maybe you can take a break before doing anything else first?"

There was an awkward pause as no one was man enough to admit that yes, this is true. Always, after the mission was over, the adrenaline rush would fade and you would be in the home stretch, the exhaustion, the fatigue would set in, and you would want to do something else, decidedly non-heroic – say, go to a movie, eat some popcorn (and pop), or maybe have a rustic bread and some beef pie…

"Um, where did it come from?" Bucky blinked, when he realized that they had been herded off to the cafeteria, and some of their party vanished.

"'Xibalba' is an officially registered company, as far as the U.S. government is concerned. Does some crack research regarding field medicine, especially prosthetic limbs; isn't anywhere near Stark's level of power – or 'Starks', I suppose, but is quite formidable, quite well-connected, especially with the U.S. military. Tends to avoid D.C., because the Republicans are currently running the show there, but still has plenty of oomph," Sharon Carter said matter-of-factly, "so it can afford some good meals, too". She paused and added. "Also, Natasha Romanoff was involved in _this_ meal somehow, though I don't know how. I'm…not sure that she's mentally all right anymore."

"I'm quite sure that the same goes for all of us here," Steve answered quietly. He took her hand…before switching his attention to Thor. "So, let's tackle the question-"

"No, friend Steve, whatever has happened in the world, it isn't our doing, not of Asgardians, nor of Jotuns," Thor shook his head. "And your new friends – it isn't their doing, either."

"Excuse me?" Sharon spoke first. "I _know_ Kara – she was in the same courses as me and Laura; Bobbi Morse too, but I won't talk about _her_. I also know Ward – he isn't the nicest man around, or the most clean-cut; he's no Steve, but neither does he have the power to do something like that."

"Yes, this is my point exactly," Thor nodded solemnly, (shaking his hair and beard). "Of course, I was talking about the old world, but-"

"So was I," Sharon did not back down either. "They're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents; they may be morally ambiguous, but they aren't evil-"

"Yes, well, this isn't exactly evil," one of the new people spoke up. "Me and the amazing Horsefly here-"

"My name is Falcon!"

"-and the amazing Duck Hawk here don't have the same amount of experience fighting Hydra, but we have some experience, and it was bad. Hydra was bad people!"

"You have no idea," Bucky muttered, "and I'm sorry, who are you, again?"

"Firstly, I do have some idea, start listening, and also? I'm Scott Lang, the Ant-Man!" the other man said brightly. "Just you wait till I get my suit in order and show you what I can do-"

"Where _is_ your suit, then?"

"He brought it with him, just as I brought mine," Scott's companion spoke up.

"Really? Just how long were we fighting Thunderbolt-"

"Not that long," the Afro-American man shook his head. "But right now, I, the Ant-Man and the Scarlet Witch over there were the only prisoners of the Raft, a test run if you will. As such, there was not anyone else's belongings in there either, we knew where to get them, and so we did. In addition, my name is Sam Wilson. Or the Falcon – not anything else," he glared at the Ant-Man. "Got it?"

The Ant-Man showed the Falcon the finger. The Falcon wrapped up his sleeves and went for him, and the two men began to chase each other around the table.

"I like them," Thor commented cheerfully. "So, what is going down here in general?"

"In this version, Stark is running S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

Both Steve and Bucky swore, interrupting Sharon. "That bad?" the blonde woman asked, sounding apologetic.

"Yes," Steve admitted, looking embarrassed that he had cursed. "Tony isn't a bad man, but he can get carried away; plus, with him? It's all about armor; it can protect and hide one's vulnerability or weakness, but they don't go away and keep on eating from the inside-"

"Yes, well, not everyone can be perfect like you, friend Steve," Thor commented mildly.

"That's not it," Steve shook his head. "You weren't around at that moment, but part of the reason why we had a falling-out with S.H.I.E.L.D. is because they'd been influenced by Hydra and built several Helicarriers that would enable them to travel the world at an extra-fast speed and prevent all dangers and problems before they occurred. We stopped S.H.I.E.L.D., stopped Hydra, and then Tony, alongside Bruce, went and built the first Ultron, which was supposed to follow the same strategy – prevention as protection and you remember how it turned out?" he turned to Thor.

"Yes," the Norse alien nodded thoughtfully. "I remember. You think that this will probably turn out the same way?"

"It already does!" Sharon spoke-up suddenly, startling everyone. "Why do you think your friends ended-up on the Raft? This was supposed to be the Avengers Initiative, a group of people who would protect the world…without asking any questions."

"Where do I come in?" Bucky asked quietly.

There was a pause as Sharon eyed the other woman, currently present in the room. "Wanda," she said quietly. "You want to join in?"

"No. I'm not with the Leviathan, really!" Wanda snapped, her entire body shaking with effort. "I'm not!"

"That's the official line, anyhow," one of the staff members said, quietly. "The fact is, captain Rogers, that unlike Hydra, which was never more than a parasite, the Leviathan is an organization centuries old, designed to protect the Slavic people from any threats. Similar to S.H.I.E.L.D., really, but with a more nationalistic twist."

"Thank you-"

"My name is Bakshi."

"Thank you, Mr. Bakshi," Sharon nodded regally, before switching her attention back to Wanda. "Well?"

"Yes," Wanda visibly deflated. "I may be working for the Leviathan. Maybe. And maybe I was going to be the Winter Soldier's handler in this reality – um," she found her boots endlessly fascinating. "But things got short-circuited because-"

"Because she would rather be friends with us," Laura commented, as she, Clint, and the other two ex-agents finally joined in. "Therefore, some slack should be cut, captain."

There was a pause as Steve and the others just looked at each other, with neither side giving an inch. "We're not going to preach compassion at you," it was Ward who spoke, "and not just because Barton and I don't see eye-to-eye at it ourselves, but still. You are Captain America. If you don't, then who will?"

"I never asked for this to happen to me, not initially," Steve shifted, and Bucky knew that Wanda was off the hook – for the immediate while. "But what's done is done. What do we do now?"

"We got Stark, running S.H.I.E.L.D.," Sharon began to tick on her fingers. "We got a Republican president in the U.S., pushing all of the agencies – not just S.H.I.E.L.D., but FBI, CIA, and so on, to make America great again. And we got Maria Hill, who likes to put on airs and act as if she knows what she is doing, but really? S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that she was really little more than a glorified secretary; and now she is with Stark-"

"What we need," Ward spoke quietly, but Sharon immediately fell silent and stared at him in a piercing manner, "is figure out why the world has changed the way it changed, and why only we seem to remember it." He looked askance at Thor. "Your brother-?"

"No, he isn't aware that anything has changed; in fact," Thor decisively not made eye contact with anyone, "he seems to be unaware that he's, actually, been adopted, and the same goes for everyone else, save for our parents, and they never told anyone that, until Loki discovered it by himself on one of our journeys – and this time, he hadn't."

"So, no battle of New York?" Clint said in a very particular manner. "I wasn't mentally enslaved-? And you didn't mention? You bloody show-off-" He began to rise, and people nearest to him grabbed him, to prevent him from launching at Thor.

"…And you thought that _we_ had it bad," Scott Lang told Wilson, switching everyone's attention to them. "And on that note, maybe we can go and check on Cassie? She's my daughter, not much older than yours," he nodded at the ex-agents, "so maybe?"

"Done," Steve snapped, before the others could react. In Bucky's case, it was a yawn, embarrassingly.

"And now it is ten in the evening, so maybe we should break for the night," he heard someone say – maybe it was even Wanda.

And then, even more embarrassingly, he actually fell asleep.

 _The end?_


	2. Chapter 2

**The next morning**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters here is mine._

The next morning, when Bucky woke up, breakfast was being served already. "This was fast," he muttered to no one in particular.

"No, not really – just pre-prepared, sort of," came the reply of one of the underlings of Grant and Kara. "Anyways, the others are up already – are you going to join?"

The Winter Soldier, (or whoever he currently was – Bucky was developing an ID crisis on top of everything else, it seemed), did not deign to reply to that, but just went downstairs.

"How are you feeling?" Kara asked brightly, as TWS joined her and Grant downstairs. "You're up early – Steve and Sharon are up, of course, but they are busy doing…whatever it is that they are really doing, and not what you're thinking that they're doing, and Clint and Laura are seeing the children off," she sounded wistful on the last part.

"Couldn't you do it?" Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, they got the long straw," came the reply. "Oh, and Lang and Wilson? They have not actually come back from visiting Lang's daughter. I do hope that they have not been caught again-"

"And Thor?" Barnes did not raise to the bait – plus, he did not care about the Ant-Man and the Falcon that much – it was embarrassing to admit, but true regardless.

"He's with Wanda," Kara shrugged. "So, breakfast?"

"…I'm eating already," Barnes muttered. "It helps- I'm hungry," he trailed away, as he realized that he did not want to talk to his interlocutrix about what he was thinking, about how it didn't make sense-

Okay, he was currently eating a breakfast that consisted of sandwiches with tea. Not exactly Avengers-level stuff here. It is just that he could not shake the feeling that he was not supposed to be eating this, and not just because he was not deserving of it – he was quite over that guilt. Rather, he could not shake the feeling that something was off in the entire universe – oh, right. There was no Hydra, he never had been abused or brainwashed, and-

"You have no exact idea of how to fix it, all of it," Grant commented softly as he sat on the other side of the Winter Soldier, (away from Kara). "Welcome to the club. I, for one, honestly do not think that there is a quick solution for our mess, but that is not necessarily bad-"

"Grant. Why do I remember a brilliant blonde being associated with you-"

"Because, Buchanan, she married someone else."

"…Oh," Bucky exhaled. "Ok. So, have you experienced reality shifts before this one?"

"Eh, we were kind of dead before the reality shifted," the other man explained, sound rather guiltily. "We were just coming back, to the world of the living, when it hit. We came back, and instead of anything else, we found this. This, and Laura, who was initially trying to recruit us because she and Kara had been tentative friends back in the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy and all. I'm not sure what Laura expected to happen, I'm not sure what was supposed to happen in the original plot, but Kara agreed, because reasons."

"And so did you," Kara pointed from Barnes' other side.

"Yes, well, Hawkeye and I? We never had been too friendly with each other back in the Academy, and now, well, we're only working together because everything isn't right," Grant backed-down, sort of, as he fiddled with a baseball cap in his hands and didn't look anyone in the eye.

"Absolutely!" the archer in question agreed, as he returned, flanked by his own spouse. Seeing them made Barnes feel, well, lonely. (His relationship with Steve did not count – it may have been complicated, but not that kind of complicated, actually).

"Hey, Barnes?" Hawkeye gave the Winter Soldier a look. "Don't worry, you'll find someone for yourself, I'm sure."

There was something of an awkward pause. "No, I'm _not_ with Steve," Bucky said flatly. "Believe it or not, our relationship _isn't_ like that, I swear."

"Good," Sharon commented, as she and Steve emerged from wherever they had been and joined the breakfast crew. "Otherwise I would have to kill you."

There was an awkward pause. "It's a joke, people," Sharon began crossly, when she noticed that the others were instead staring at Scott and Wilson who were back by now – and they had an unexpected (and an unintended) guest with them. "Oh. Never mind. Just what have you two yahoos been up to instead? Moreover, who is your friend? Please tell me that it isn't Cassie-"

"It isn't," Laura replied instead. "We saw here off to school with the rest of the crowd. Lang and Wilson?"

"We found her poking around Cassie's place – I mean my place, I mean our place," Scott face-palmed. "Can I start again?"

"What he means," Wilson groaned at his partner's antics, "is that we found this girl, Daisy Something-or-Other, sitting in a van, full of high-tech stuff. On one hand, Lang thinks that it looks familiar, so we took it for further examination, and on the other, um, well, Steve thought that we could use a hacker to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"I never said that I would actually do it," Sam and Lang's new 'friend' protested, but it was clearly for show – she was eyeing Captain America as if, well, he was Captain America, (cough).

"Great!" Kara said brightly, and Bucky frowned – for the first time ever, she sounded…not quite genuine. "Rogers here is taken, we don't want agent 13 here to kill you, but have we mentioned that the Winter Soldier over here is feeling lonely and hadn't had a relationship with a woman since WWII?"

"Really?" the other woman – Daisy – stared at Bucky, who twitched. On one level, he was annoyed for some reason by the blatant matchmaking, (which just felt wrong for some reason); on the other, at least some part of his body was certainly appreciating the beautiful young woman with curves that wouldn't quit looking at him with a clear interest, (cough Steve cough). "You poor man!"

"Yes, well, let me get back to you," Bucky said with some effort, (he was not _that_ altruistic, thank you very much). "Steve, firstly, why do we need a hacker? And what for?"

"We want to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D – this version of it – and see what they know, period," Steve exhaled. "Can't believe that I'm going down Stark's road either, but there you are."

"You think that they're behind it-?" the Falcon asked, thoughtfully.

"No, but we got to start with someone and somewhere, might as well be S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve nodded in reply. "Morning, Thor."

"Morning, friend Steve," the Asgardian nodded in reply, as he joined the others, with Wanda following behind. "Did you know that there's a potential spy on your base?"

"Mmm," Ward nodded thoughtfully. "Hopefully, though, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. and not someone else, because that would be worse." He flipped the fire alarm, causing the sprinklers to go off and reveal a formerly invisible female figure."

"Oh. That is Ava Starr. She's. Ghost. She does work for S.H.I.E.L.D.," Scott said thoughtfully. "Hm. That means…" He abruptly shrunk (he had his suit underneath his civilian clothing), vanishing briefly from the others' sight. "Oh, Hope is here too," his voice came buzzing through a comm.-link. "Excuse us while we work through some issues."

"Would you believe me that I had no idea about them?" Daisy said brightly, which caused Bucky to feel pain in a very weird way.

"Great! You can sit with Buchanan here and make him feel all better instead, while we talk to Lang's other friend – the one that isn't undersized, apparently – just what is S.H.I.E.L.D. up to, and then decide where to go from here," Kara replied just as brightly, and Bucky frowned: this wasn't _her_. Until all of this madness had begun, he had never known her – of that he _was_ sure – but he could tell already that the other woman was pretending. He was beginning to remember Grant – barely, and so he could tell already that the other man knew that Kara was pretending too. Odd, that…

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is just trying to do its job," Ava Starr said sharply. "To protect and defend humanity from all sorts of threats, including alien ones," she shot Thor a pointed glance.

"Oh?" Thor did not back down. "And what did _I_ do, exactly?"

There was an awkward pause. "I don't know, that," Ava admitted. "But you people are yesterday's news anyhow. We've got the Squadron Supreme on our side now!"

There was another awkward pause. "None of us have any idea about them, other than the most basic one," Laura said brightly. "Do you want to join in and tell us just how much we're doomed?"

"…I was not too much on details," Ava muttered, "that was more of Wasp's thing…just what is she doing with Lang?"

"Guess," Wanda spoke for the first time. "It's times like those that I really hate having powers."

The awkward pause came back. "So, are _you_ free?" Ava looked at the Falcon. "Because the way that things are going-"

"I'll think about it," Falcon muttered. "So, now what?"

"Just so that we're clear, does anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. wants a fight for real? Thunderbolt Ross notwithstanding?" Steve asked instead.

"No, not yet," Ava confessed again. "No one is really upset about Ross either. Lately, ever since he's got his own powers, his behavior changed for the worse."

"Is that even possible?" Steve turned red as apparently, he had not intended to ask the question aloud, but there it was.

"I know; you'd think that it would be impossible, but there you are," Ava muttered. "So, where is this going?"

"Tell S.H.I.E.L.D. that if they can impress us with their… Squadron, we'll negotiate further," Steve said flatly. "Got it?"

"Yes," Ava nodded, sounding thoughtful herself. "You're not how you're supposed to be, though."

"Yes," Steve nodded simply. "We're not."

 _To be continued…_


End file.
